The Ford Motor Co. has found itself caught up in the expanding probe into possible Russian collusion into the 2016 presidential election.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked the automaker to provide records relating to an apparent with Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, though it appears Ford rejected the bid. The automaker came under repeated attack by Trump during his campaign for its plan to move small car production to Mexico, and faced threats that, as president, Trump would hit it with sanctions.

News Now!

The New York attorney’s office and home were raided last month and it has since been learned that he received payments from AT&T and Novartis pharmaceuticals, among others, for services as a “consultant.” Widely known as Trump’s “fixer,” Cohen also reached out to Ford, according to Michael Avenatti, the California attorney for Stormy Daniels, the porn star who Cohen paid off just before the 2016 election.

The Fusion has lost momentum in a U.S. market increasingly focused on SUVs and CUVs.

Ford Motor Co. says it has no plan to consolidate production of its next-generation Fusion and Mondeo models in China for shipment to markets around the world, countering a report by Reuters.

On Wednesday, the news service referenced automotive suppliers and other sources to indicate the midsize sedans would move out of their current plants in Europe and Mexico with a facility in China taking over as Ford’s single production source. Ford earlier this year announced a similar strategy for the smaller Focus model.

Industry News!

“We have no plans to export the next-generation Fusion/Mondeo from China to North America and Europe,” Ford said in a statement responding to the wire report. “Fusion/Mondeo are an important part of the Ford car lineup. We will have more information to share about the next Fusion/Mondeo at a later date.”

“You’re starting to see the foundation of Ford’s bet on AVs (or autonomous vehicles),” said Jim Farley.

Ford plans to shift production of electric vehicles from a suburban Detroit plant to a factory in Mexico, a top company official said. That move will make room at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant for Ford to launch a new line of driverless vehicles that will be used by ride-sharing and delivery fleets.

The move could create some political headaches for the second-largest of the Detroit Big Three automakers. During his campaign for the White House, then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly bashed Ford’s plans to move small car production from Michigan to a second assembly plant it was building in Mexico. It ultimately scrubbed that facility and will shift production of the Focus model to China, instead.

News You Can Use!

“You’re starting to see the foundation of Ford’s bet on AVs (or autonomous vehicles),” said Jim Farley, the president of global markets for Ford.

Under the revised plan, Toyota will produce only the Tacoma at the new Mexican plant.

Toyota is scaling back by nearly a third its investment in a new plant in Mexico that will build some of its compact Tacoma pickup trucks, the Japanese automaker has confirmed.

The factory was originally set to cost $1 billion, a figure that will now be scaled back to $700 million. Production of Toyota’s Corolla sedan, which also was to go into the plant in Guanajuato, will now be moved to a new factory Toyota is setting up in the U.S.

Subscribe Now!

The decision comes at a time when President Donald Trump has been leaning hard on automakers to boost U.S. production and, in particular, move operations out of Mexico. But several Toyota executives stressed that the shift in production was not motivated by political pressure.

Ford Motor Co. will temporarily drop a shift at a pickup plant in Ohio due to slowing sales, a move that will idle 130 hourly workers.

The move comes at a time when U.S. motor vehicle sales have begun to slow after seven years of growth – and three consecutive annual sales records. Ford has been particularly hard hit by the slowdown in recent months.

The Last Word!

Automakers have become increasingly worried about a broader slowdown of the U.S. economy, especially in sectors that might impact sales of commercial trucks, such as the medium-duty pickups assembled at the Avon Lake, Ohio facility hit by the Ford cutback.

A worker on the line at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant. It will soon be building trucks.

Ford Motor Co. will invest $1.2 billion in three Michigan facilities, the automaker announced Tuesday, a move signaled overnight through a tweet from Pres. Donald Trump.

The three projects the package covers will help save and, in some cases add, thousands of jobs in the suburban Detroit region, in line with one of the president’s priorities. But a senior executive from Ford told TheDetroitBureau.com that all three projects were in the works well before Trump took office – the largest, involving an $850 million assembly plant investment, approved as part of a deal with the United Auto Workers Union in 2015.

Subscribe Now!

The announcement is “consistent with what we announced previously,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s President of the Americas, though he quickly stressed that Ford is “encouraged by the pro-growth approach the administration is trying to follow. We continue to be encouraged by the dialogue.”

Ford finally confirmed in January it will bring back the Bronco (a concept version shown here).

Ford Motor Co. is expected to announce today that it will spend over $1 billion to expand and upgrade three plants in Michigan, an expansive program highlighted overnight in a tweet from President Donald Trump and detailed in a story in a local Detroit paper.

According to the Detroit News, however, the largest portion of that project involves an investment at the Michigan Assembly Plant in the Detroit suburb of Wayne, Michigan and was in the works well before the businessman-turned politician was elected president last year. The other investments are expected to support work at that plant.

Inside News!

As a candidate, Trump frequently criticized Ford over its decision to move small car production to Mexico, warning that he would take steps, as president, to penalize the automaker, including an import tax on Mexican-made vehicles. In January, however, Trump hailed Ford’s announcement that it was canceling a second Mexican plant – even though it was still going ahead with plans to move the compact Focus model to Mexico.

Ford Chairman Bill Ford is one of the latest to criticize Trump's immigration plan.

With protests continuing around the country in response to Pres. Donald Trump’s Executive Order on immigration and travel, the U.S. business community is being drawn into the fray, Ford Motor Co. among the latest companies to take a stand.

The second-largest domestic automaker issued a statement Monday morning cosigned by Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Mark Fields declaring, “Respect for all people is a core value of Ford Motor Company, and we are proud of the rich diversity of our company here at home and around the world. That is why we do not support this policy or any other that goes against our values as a company.”

Breaking News!

Demonstrations were underway at more than 30 U.S. airports over the weekend to protest restrictions placed largely on Mideasterners of the Islamic faith. But while it is typically rare for the business community to be brought into such political turmoil, the latest fracas touched off by the inauguration of Trump has left fewer and fewer on the sidelines.

Nissan is taking a “pragmatic” approach to dealing with a new president who may move to block automotive imports from Mexico, CEO Carlos Ghosn told TheDetroitBureau.com during a discussion at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Ghosn’s comments came shortly after President-elect Donald Trump attacked Toyota in the latest in a series of tweets criticizing automakers who import vehicles into the U.S. from Mexico. That move sent the stock of the largest of the Japanese automakers tumbling. Nissan is the best-selling automaker in Mexico and has major assembly operations there supplying the U.S. and numerous other markets.

Beyond the Headlines!

“We are pragmatic,” said Ghosn, who also serves as CEO of Nissan’s French alliance partner Renault. “We will adapt.”

Ford plans to shut down the F-150 line at the Kansas City assembly plant as part of a plan to shrink inventory levels.

Ford Motor Co. is moving to trim production of its pickups and sport-utility vehicles as flagging sales in recent months have the maker scrambling to match demand and supply. The company’s sales were off 7.7% in September.

The automaker said it will temporarily close four assembly plants, including two in the U.S. and two in Mexico, as part of what it describes as an effort to meet year-end inventory targets.

Your Auto Insider!

The four plants slated to shut down include the Kansas City assembly plant that builds the F-150 and an assembly line in Louisville, Kentucky, where Ford builds the Escape. (more…)